1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printer, and more particularly, to an organic photo conductor (OPC) unit exchanging apparatus of an electro-photographic printer, which allows a user to exchange the OPC unit with ease.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a printer has an organic photo conductor (OPC) unit to receive a digital image signal from a laser scanning unit (LSU) and to form an elelctrostatic latent image, a developing cartridge including a developing roller to develop the electrostatic latent image of the OPC unit using toner, a transfer belt to transfer the developed image of the OPC unit on a recoding paper, a printer body to protect these parts, and an upper cover and a rear cover.
The OPC unit has to be exchanged after being used for a while. When the OPC unit is pulled upwardly to be exchanged, the OPC unit is caught by the transfer belt and the developing cartridge of the upper part of the OPC unit. For the OPC unit to be easily exchanged, both the transfer belt and the developing cartridge should be a predetermined distance apart from the OPC unit.
As shown in FIG. 1, a printer includes an OPC unit 87 with an OPC handle 88, a developing cartridge 82 having a developing roller 83 contacting the OPC unit 87, a body 81, an upper cover 80 and a rear cover 84 covering these parts.
Therefore, for a user to exchange the OPC unit 87 in a conventional printer, the user has to open the upper cover 80 and the rear cover 84 disposed at the rear of the developing cartridge 82. After that, the user has to retreat the developing cartridge 82 with his or her hand and leave a space from the OPC unit 87 in order to prevent the OPC unit 87 from being caught when the OPC unit 87 is pulled upwardly. Next, the user has to separate the transfer belt 86 and the OPC unit 87 by grabbing the OPC handle 88.
As described so far, in the conventional printer the developing cartridge 82 should be retreated and spaced apart from the OPC unit 87 when the OPC unit 87 is exchanged. At this time, the user has to open the rear cover 84 and pull the developing cartridge 82 with his or her hand. Thus, the user has been inconvenienced by necessarily having to open the rear cover 84 of the developing cartridge 82 and pull the developing cartridge 82 with his or her hand to exchange the OPC unit 87.